The Brenchley Brood: beach

Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts

Monday, June 15, 2015

One Happy Island

My family just spent the last week (Matt) or 5 days (the rest of us) in Aruba!

{The JOYS of standby flight benefits!} ;)

ARUBA has been on my travel "Bucket List".....and it did not disappoint!

It is [appropriately] nicknamed, "ONE HAPPY ISLAND."

Our Family's FAVES:

White, soft, fine, powdery sand (great for sandcastles!)
We stayed/played on Eagle Beach (ranks among the top 10 beaches in the world!) which was so CLEAN (no kelp, no seaweed!)
No peddlers on the beach (can you say, "peace & relaxation?")
Crystal clear, warm waters of the Caribbean Sea (with a smooth ocean floor, nothing to hurt your feet on!)
Delicious, safe drinking water (better than where we live!)

Even after Ryan has been out on his mission for 9 months, it's still so weird to look at "my brood" and think to myself, "Who's missing? This group seems SO small!" I count them up, and realize all who should be there, ARE there - why does four children seems so much less than five children?!?

And WHILE I was walking along the awesome beach, having an amazing time one day with one of my daughters, she actually [had the gall to] ask me,
"So, what are we going to do this Summer?"

OH. MY. WORD.
You've got to be kidding, right?!?
Nope. True Story.
(Needless to say, she heard a thing or two from me!) ;)

Monday, March 2, 2015

Keep Calm and Cruise On

After entering our stateroom for the very first time, and being hit with a wave of.......a smell that should only belong in the bathroom,

(the shower curtain was discovered as the culprit - it hung right next to the toilet, which apparently had caught a lot of "pee spray" from the previous occupants of the room!),

we had a wonderful week on the Fowers Family cruise!

Here's a sampling of our "yearbook" (weekbook?):

Port 1: Puerto Vallarta

{Note: Contrary to what this may look like....we are NOT drinking at the bar! Well, kind of.}

My brother, David, and us both got the "non-alcoholic drink card" (unlimited virgin pina coladas, strawberry daquiris, "Miami Vice's," "Bahama Mamas" etc. that we HAD to get from a bar). Without giving you an exact daily number, let's just say we tried REALLY HARD to get our money's worth each day!! ;)

Port 2: Mazatlan

Port 3: Cabo San Lucas

The Crown Princess

AND....interestingly enough, it was WAY easier to get my 10,000 Fitbit steps each day on the cruise...without really even trying!

It turns out, if you don't have to work your desk job for 6 hrs. a day, you get a lot more steps - and there's no last minute running around the block at 11:50 p.m! :)

It also helped that you walk up 5 flights of stairs to get breakfast in the morning.

Then walk the same 5 flights back to your room to change into your swim suit.

Then walk to the middle of the ship and up 7 flights to the top deck to be by the pool and catch some rays.

Then walk 2 flights down and over to the the drink machines to fill up your water bottle (and to the bars to get a "sunrise cooler" smoothie).

Then walk to the middle of the ship to watch a movie on the big outdoor screen.

Then you walk around the Buffet, the Pizzeria, and the Grill to judge who has the best lunch options, and then walk the whole outer edge of the ship trying to find a window table to eat at.

Then you go back to your room because you forgot your a) book, b) water bottle, c) sunscreen, d) pen

Then you go around to all the hang out rooms/areas around the ship, on 3 different decks, to see if there is an open table to play cards at.

And then you walk up 3 flights to your room to get ready for dinner.

Then down 4 flights to the dining room.

Then you walk in and out of the dining room a few times to go to the restroom during your 2 hr. dinner, from the constant water you drink.

Then walk to the very front of the ship for the evening entertainment in the theatre.

Then back to the middle of the ship and up one floor for the game shows.

Then down a couple decks to the lounge where you dance the night away.

And then, finally, walk back up 4 decks and to the back of the ship to your stateroom to retire for the evening!

Oh...It was fun while it lasted (which is never long enough!) but now it's back to reality. boo hoo.

And we've decided (I think, but I'm not convinced) we'll have to try to be "responsible" and take a sabbatical from cruising for the a while......until the next great "opportunity" arises! ;)

Thursday, November 20, 2014

A Sure Way to Have a Whole Month Fly By Without Even Realizing It

If time is ever moving too slow for you - just dragging on and you're wondering HOW you can make it go faster.......just GO ON A CRUISE.

Because it takes a WHOLE WEEK of pressing preparations before you can even leave:
Laundry
Writing up lists
Shopping
Making an instructions guide for our children's caretakers
Packing
Accomplishing THE LIST
ON TOP OF the extra hours at work that I had to pick up for others in trade to get the cruise week off, and Matt had to work to get all the things done that were needed for deadlines that would come up while we were gone or very shortly after we returned.
PLUS, add a daughter's birthday and party in there with my annual girls' shopping weekend in Park City on the side....

....and pretty much I was going non-stop for that first 8 days of the month.

THEN we made it on our [20th anniversary] cruise! Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!

The Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean

Relief.

No Responsibility.

Restful.

{Haha. Matt took this "selfie" on the first evening.

I was so worn out by the time our vacation actually started, I fell right to sleep waiting for the show to start!}

Recreational.

{Yes! There is a operational Carousal on the ship.}

Rejuvinating.

Refreshing.

Royal Treatment.

from our awesome waiters, "Jeff" & "Lito"

Romantic.

Rewarding.

Sadly, that week went by way too fast.

Side Note: My #1 tip for married couples: Get Away Together (alone) often! (anything from a date night to an extended vacation) There's really no substitute.....but that's a whole other blog post for another time.

And then we came back home. Here's another adjective beginning with the letter "R" to describe that experience: Rude Awakening.

Not only was is COLD, but I had to now cook my own food, pick up my own towel, wipe my own nose......Oh no!!

(It's been pretty much back to work non-stop again)

So, on MONDAY, I worked my shift all day and had to go to the grocery store for all the, "Mom! We're out of (fill in the blank with anything & everything)! items the kids bombarded me with upon my return.

On TUESDAY, I worked my shift all day and had to catch up on paying bills. What in the heck was the current status of our bank account?!?

On WEDNESDAY, I worked my shift all day and did the miscellaneous "office" stuff...and finally decorated for Thanksgiving! With a side of planning our ward's Christmas party.

On THURSDAY, I finally had a day off work, so I got around to unpacking all my luggage. I also tackled cleaning the stove which appeared as if a 10 gallon pot of an assortment of foods & other stuff had exploded all over it in my absence. I also slid on in to the Post Office in the nick of time - 4:56 p.m. - to send off this month's missionary care package (a blog post for another time) for ~~Ryan~~ Elder Brenchley. (It's that time again, already?!?)

So, there's another week that's gone by in a FLASH. It's November 20th already!?!?! That means practically the whole month is gone! And then Thanksgiving week always goes by fast and after that, November's over. I really can't believe how quickly it went. Here I am left reeling.

There you have it.
Prep week + Cruise week + Catch up week.....
How to lose a month in 20 days. (but what only seemed like a few)

Monday, July 28, 2014

I've Got a Feeling We're Not in Utah Anymore...

We went on our family vacation to Pompano Beach, FL this past week.

We saw and heard many things - things that seemed a bit peculiar to us - that kept reminding us we were THERE and not in our hometown. But, sometimes it's good to experience the differences.

Here's a little list of our "cultural education":

The bathrooms at church were in a "trailer house" out in the parking lot (upon further explanation, we found out they were renovating)
A lizard running across the kitchen floor in the church
A car veered out around the turning lane, into the oncoming traffic lane, to pass us (the women at church had actually just talked/joked about the driving conditions in South Florida earlier that day!)
Multiple people [out in public] asked us WHY we were dressed up - on a Sunday. (We'd NEVER get asked that HERE) But really?!? Church attendance wasn't even on their radar?
We met this guy who says he came to visit So. Florida 30 years ago, fell and hit his head, and never returned/left So. Florida.
We met another [very warm, kind, & generous] family from Columbia on the Ft. Lauderdale temple grounds. After chatting for just a few minutes, they invited us to come to their vacation home/use their pool. (They didn't know us from Adam! But, they had a few teenage girls, and we had two teenage boys....haha)

A lady who worked in marketing at the resort was named, TUCKER
A liquor store inside Costco
When inquiring about where to park to access the beach, the woman answered [with her accent], "Here, ALL the daddy's are walkin'!" (her way of informing Matt he needed to drop us off at the beach, then go find a random spot to park a few blocks away) After that we could use that "cultural education" to our advantage: If I was all comfy in my bed and didn't want to go out to the kitchen for a drink, I'd ask Matt to do it for me with, "Here, ALL the daddy's are walkin'!" If one of the girls forgot her pool towel, they would whine/beg for Matt to go back for it with, "Here, ALL the daddy's are walkin'!" If the boys were just camped out on the couch watching ESPN, and desired to continue doing absolutely nothing....."Here, ALL the daddy's are walkin'!" Hey, When in Rome, do as the Romans do! ;)
Horizontal traffic lights

The back tailgate of a truck in front of us had detailing on it....the back view of a lady bending over....with a [indecent] written phrase to go with it - that I will omit from this bullet point.
Kyle Beckerman's "TWIN" riding his skateboard to work his job: the beach chair service company on the beach.

24 hr. doughnut shops
Bikers jetting out in front of oncoming turning lane traffic to cross the intersection diagonally
$3.38/gallon for gas
Ducks walking around the resort parking lot/puddles (one was sitting on a nest of eggs in the flower bed)
A check cashing store/deli/grill combo business all in the same building (because going in to get your checks cashed MIGHT make you hungry!) :)